hessa adj. "dead, withered" (LT1:255)
Quenya
firin
dead
hessa
dead, withered
qualin
dead
qualin ("q")adj. "dead" (KWAL, LT1:264)
Sindarin
fern
noun/adjective. dead, dead person; [N.] dead (of mortals)
An adjective in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “dead (of mortals)” under the root ᴹ√PHIR “die of natural causes”, used as a plural noun in the name Dor Firn i Guinar “Land of the Dead that Live” (Ety/PHIR). Christopher Tolkien choose to include the name Dor Firn-i-Guinar in the published version of The Silmarillion (S/188), and most Sindarin writers accept its ongoing validity.
dor firn-i-guinar
place name. Land of the Dead that Live
Home of Beren and Lúthien after their return to life, translated “Land of the Dead that Live” (S/188). This name is a combination of dôr “land”, the plural firn of fern “dead”, the relative pronoun i “who” and the present plural inflection of the cuina- “live”, lenited to guinar by the preceding pronoun.
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this name first appeared as G. (i·)Cuilwarthon “(The) Dead That Live Again” (LT2/41, 51). In the earliest Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s this form first persisted as Cuilwarthien (SM/133), but was soon revised to N. Gwerth-i-Cuina “(Land of) the Dead that Live” (SM/135). This name N. Dor Firn i Guinar first appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/KUY, PHIR). Nevertheless, the form Gwerth-i-guinar appeared in the initial Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/71) before Tolkien settled on its final form.
In both the 1930s and later, Tolkien occasionally used Gyrth as the word for “The Dead”, in N. Gyrth-i-Guinar (LR/305) and S. Dor Gyrth i Chuinar. See those entries for further discussion.
Dor Firn-i-Chuinar
noun. land of the dead who live
(n-)dôr (“land, dwelling-place”), firn (pl. of fern “mortal”) + in (here: plural relative pronoun) + cuinar (3p pl. of cuina - “be alive”)
Dor Firn-i-Guinar
Dor Firn-i-Guinar
Dor Firn-i-Guinar is the name appearing in the published Silmarillion, apparently consisting of the Sindarin elements dor "land" + firn "dead" + in "who, that" + cuinar "live". In his manuscripts, Tolkien experimented with many variations on how to translate Land of the Dead that Live: I·Cuilwarthon, I·Guilwarthon, Cuilwarthien, Gwerth-i-cuina, and Gwerth-i-guinar. In a [] letter, Tolkien used the name Dor Gyrth i chuinar.
Dor Firn-i-Guinar
Land of the dead that live
Dor Firn-i-Guinar is the name appearing in the published Silmarillion, apparently consisting of the Sindarin elements dor "land" + firn "dead" + in "who, that" + cuinar "live".
In his manuscripts, Tolkien experimented with many variations on how to translate Land of the Dead that Live: I·Cuilwarthon, I·Guilwarthon, Cuilwarthien, Gwerth-i-cuina, and Gwerth-i-guinar. In a 1972 letter, Tolkien used the name Dor Gyrth i chuinar.
dor gyrth i chuinar
place name. Land of the Dead that Live
A variant form of Dor Firn-i-Guinar appearing in one of Tolkien’s letters from 1972 (Let/417). It differs from the common form in that it uses the plural gyrth of gorth for “The Dead” and that the verb inflection of cuina- “live” undergoes nasal mutation instead of soft mutation. The latter implies that the relative pronoun i is elided from a plural form in.
Conceptual Development: A similar variation N. Gyrth-i-Guinar appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/305).
gorth
dead
(adj.) 1) gorth (lenited ngorth; pl. gyrth), also fern, pl. firn. These adjectives may also be used as nouns ”dead person(s)”. According to LR:381 s.v. _
gorth
noun. a dead person
gorthrim
noun. the dead
Noldorin
fern
noun/adjective. dead (of mortals)
fern
noun/adjective. dead (of mortals)
fern
noun/adjective. dead person
dor firn i guinar
place name. Land of the Dead that Live
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
Early Noldorin
gwardh
adjective. dead
Early Quenya
mána
adjective. dead
An adjective for “dead” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s based on the verb ᴱQ. maka- “die” (PE14/58).
narka
adjective. dead
An adjective for “dead” implied by the stative formation narkea “is dead” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/140), perhaps connected to some precursor of √NDAK “slay”.
qalna
adjective. dead
warda
adjective. dead
Qenya
qalin
adjective. dead, dead, [ᴱQ.] dying
An adjective for “dead” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWAL “die (in pain)” (Ety/KWAL).
Conceptual Development: The adjective ᴱQ. qalin meant “dead” all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s where it was derived from the early root ᴱ√QALA “die” (QL/76; PME/76). In the Qenya Lexicon it has an archaic variant ᴱQ. †qalna (QL/76). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, qalin appeared in the stative construction qalinya {“is dead” >>} “is dying” (PE16/140).
firin adj. "dead" (by natural cause) (PHIR).This may obsolete the earlier "Qenya" word firin "ray of the sun" (LT2:341)